But even though the two sides are not quite seeing eye-to-eye, the exchanges lack the rancor that was prevalent before the horseman's group split from Empire. So hopefully this will be worked out to the horsemen's and, most importantly, the horses' satisfaction soon.

- Can you believe it - two more winners for Linda Rice at Saratoga on Saturday. She's now won the last five races in which she's had runners, though she had an entry in Saturday's ninth, and only one of them won. I'm not sure how that effects any consecutive winner streak as far as the record books go. She's so hot that I'm surprised they didn't finish in a dead heat. She also moved her into a tie with the Toddster, who has started twice as many runners, with 12 wins at the meet. I wonder what the odds would have been on a head-to-head proposition on those two.

Bob Baffert may just change his opinion of Polytrack and be thankful for its existence. Otherwise, he may not have come to Saratoga to win five out of eight races here, including two graded stakes (thus far, with Maimonides slated for the Hopeful on Monday). Midnight Lute was his third consecutive winner, and a dominating (and extremely well bet) one at that. High Finance was the clear choice of the morning oddsmaker at 2-1, but Midnight Lute (6-1 [these morning line odds before the scratch of 5-1 Chatain]) got bet to 5-2. I wasn't around to see how the betting went, but I think you could almost say that High Finance was dead on the board at 2-1. Where were all those West Point partners?

Midnight Lute's win was actually somewhat similar visually to that of Lawyer Ron. He stayed in close attendance to the pace - and a contested one in this case, as Attila's Storm, as expected, gave High Finance a rough time. And, like the Woodward winner, he took over when ready, with ease, and drew away once getting to the stretch. The final time was 1:21.06; final 3/8ths in 35.82 seconds.

The Beyer boys will once again have to use their imagination in conjuring up a fig for Lawyer Ron, as the Woodward was the only two turn race of the day on the main track. The final time of 1:48.60 was exactly two seconds slower than his Whitney, which got a 116 (projected down from the 120+ number that the raw figures suggested). He came home the last 3/8ths in 36.15 that day; on Saturday, that fraction was 38.15. And remember he was three wide both turns in the Whitney. So I think it's fair to say that he bounced....and perhaps also that the horses behind him didn't run that well at all. I'd guess that they'll figure that he regressed a few points and give him something like a 110-112.